


You & I (Nobody in the World)

by weasleytook



Category: Push (2009)
Genre: Cunnilingus, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, First Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 04:12:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8875492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weasleytook/pseuds/weasleytook
Summary: They spend years dancing on the line, never being able to define whatever it is they are to each other, until one of them finally makes the first move on a hot night in Tulsa.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [caphairdadbeard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/caphairdadbeard/gifts).



> Hello Yuletide recipient! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was when I opened up my assignment and saw your FANTASTIC letter. I tried very hard to give you some of the things you mentioned wanting, and though I couldn't give them all to you, I hope this will make your Yuletide a happy one. Thanks for your awesome requests and Happy Yuletide!
> 
> Thanks to L for being the BEST beta and all around best person! Any remaining errors are my own.
> 
> Title from the John Legend song, because it came on just as I was finishing the story and I was like, well, that's perfect. So, thanks John Legend, who I am sure reads Nick/Cassie fic in his spare time and will definitely see this.

The motel clerk places their key on the desk and says, “So, you and your sister can -“

“No."

“Yep.”

Nick and Cassie respond simultaneously, and it’s her that affirms their supposed siblinghood to the clerk. Nick gives her a confused look and she responds with a look he’s already come to recognize as her “Shut up and follow me” look. 

They’ve only been on the run together for three months at this point, but somehow Cassie has asserted herself as the boss. It didn’t take long for Nick to learn that he could needle her for fun, but when she didn’t want any argument, he would know it immediately.

When they get to their room, the first words out of his mouth are, “My _sister_?”

“If we said we weren’t siblings, they would have thought you kidnapped me or something creepy. We don’t need that kind of attention.”

Sometimes she was so grown up, he forgot she was only thirteen. She was so mature that he hadn’t even thought people might think something inappropriate was going on with them.

He nods and says,“Okay, _sis,_ ” even though it instantly feels wrong on his tongue.

Cassie throws her bag on the bed and turns around to glare at him sharply. “Don’t make that a thing. It’s weird.”

“Don’t worry, it felt weird even saying it.”

Siblings were people who were forced to live alongside each other and shared blood. Nick and Cassie chose to live this life together.

 

***

 

Three years into their run, Cassie goes from girl to woman, and it feels like it happens overnight. She doesn’t grow much in height, but she walks tall for someone who isn’t. Her long skinny limbs give way to a few extra curves, and the roundness of her face shifts into something more sculpted and far more adult. She has always been the more mature person in their duo, and now she actually looks that way.

Cassie is sixteen the first time a motel clerk asks, “Are you sure you and your girlfriend wouldn’t prefer one king size bed?”

“You assume -“ Nick begins.

“No, thanks,” Cassie interrupts, “He has a bad habit of kicking me while he sleeps, so this is for the best.”

Nick stands there looking aghast while Cassie winks at him and grabs the room key. She snakes her arm around his and drags him off with a sly, “Come on, honey.”

He mutters as they walk away, “Why… would you -“ 

“Why wouldn’t I?”

 

***

 

They always ask for two beds, but they don’t always get them. So when they have no choice, they settle for one. At first, Nick offers to take the floor or the chair, but Cassie never allows it because the bed is big enough for two and anything else is stupid, she says. For years, it’s always Cassie on the right side, Nick on the left, and a valley between them.

A few times, when things are going terribly for them or when Cassie has a bad vision about her mother, he holds her. Cassie buries her face in his chest and cries herself to sleep on those nights, but they always end up separating and moving back to their usual positions.

As she gets into her later teen years, they start with their backs facing each other, but sometimes Cassie will roll over and slide herself against his back, drape her arm over his side and rest her head on his shoulder. It’s not sexual, but it is intensely intimate.

Whenever Nick worries that maybe there’s a line that he shouldn’t cross, he doesn’t say it out loud, but Cassie can tell he’s starting to close himself off. She reminds him that their relationship doesn’t really have an appropriate label, and doesn’t really need one, because they don’t actually live in society anyway.

Or as Cassie sums it up, “If I want to cuddle with the most important person in my life in the privacy of wherever I’m living at the moment, I’m going to do it. I don’t give a shit. You shouldn’t either.”

Nick nods, but he’s always afraid of being _that_ guy. He knows, truly, that he could never do anything to Cassie that she didn’t want, nor did he have any influence over her decisions. But, still, he worries.

One night, after a vision so bad that she refuses to even draw it or tell him what she’s seen, she moves from her bed to his. Cassie tugs at his shoulder until he rolls over and then she scoots into him, her back to his chest and he drapes his arm around her to pull her closer, fitting her perfectly to him.

Nick rests his chin on her shoulder and quietly asks, “You okay?”

“I will be now.”

He understands it, despite all of his worries, that this is just how they are. They aren’t normal, never have been and never will be. The only truth he knows is that they will always need each other.

 

***

 

They spend a couple years always dancing on the line, or at least that’s how Nick sees it. He wonders if Cassie even sees a line because she doesn’t seem to act like it. For her, it all comes naturally, like it’s just supposed to be that way. 

Maybe she’s right and he’s just neurotic, because it does feel right. Their relationship becomes more intimate than any relationship he’s ever had, not sexual in any way, but filled with casual touches and kisses to the forehead. They start sleeping in the same bed more often than not and wake up with body parts entangled most mornings. If it’s weird for Cassie, she never says so, and Nick wonders why it doesn’t feel as weird as it should.

He likes that what they have transcends any sort of relationship the rest of the world would deem normal, but his brain - and his body - start telling him that he wants more. He wants more than forehead kisses and cuddles. He wants to touch her, wants to kiss that tiny scar right above her hip that he only sees when her jeans or skirt falls a little too low, wants to truly be _with_ her. It’s not just about sex - though he’s only human and it is partly about that - it’s about wanting to take their relationship to a physical level that matches how much they care about each other. 

If Cassie wants more than that, she doesn’t let on, at least not directly. There are very few things that Cassie is passive about, but if she wants more than what they have, she hasn’t said so.

She flirts, almost shamelessly, but Nick doesn’t know if it’s a game to get him annoyed with her, if she’s just having fun, if she wants more or if it’s all of the above. He keeps hoping she’ll be the one to crack first, to make the move and to reassure him that he’s not wrong for wanting it too, but she never does.

If Cassie has any visions about their future, she sure isn’t telling him.

 

***

 

They end up in Tulsa. They end up in a lot of places the same way they end up in Tulsa. Cassie has a vision, or on their worse days, they actually get spotted by Division. So they take the first bus, plane or train to wherever it's going, which gives Cassie a lot of funny stories about how they ended up in Alaska one time or how they took a plane to Cairo.

Today, it’s only Tulsa. Worse than that, it’s Tulsa in the heat of early summer and when Cassie steps inside their cheap, and oppressively stuffy, motel room, she says, “Why couldn’t it have been somewhere further north?”

Nick tosses his duffel bag on the bed closest to the door and answers, “You know the rules.”

She pouts at him and then goes to the air conditioning unit next to the window to start pressing some buttons. The first rule is to take the first mass transit vehicle out of town and not to think about where it’s heading. It’s the only way to stay under the radar.

The unit starts with a loud hum and Cassie sticks her face closer to it to try to catch the air. They rarely have the opportunity to be picky about where they stay, and this place is proof of that. They had used the internet at a local library only to discover that every hotel that looked decent was booked, so they settled for the one that looked least like Norman Bates might be running the place.

“I don’t think this thing is blowing cold air.”

“Give it some time.”

She pouts again and sits on the bed with a sigh, while Nick goes about his usual routine of putting things away and figuring out where everything in the room is. It’s become a weird habit of his, but being on the run constantly has made him far more organized than he had been when he was alone and hidden from the world. It just makes leaving a place that much easier. He puts their bags in the closet and when he turns, Cassie is leaning back on the bed, propped up on her elbows and watching him with an odd expression.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you know something I don’t know.”

Cassie laughs and it’s somehow both throaty and musical and it’s one of his favorite sounds in the world. “I _always_ know something you don’t know.”

He smirks at her and sits on the other bed before he says, “What is it this time?”

“Nothing, just a bit of deja vu. Or maybe I just enjoy watching you figure out where all the power outlets are and if we can sneak out the bathroom windows if we need to.”

“Someday you’ll be grateful when we actually have to sneak out a bathroom window.”

She laughs again and starts to unlace her high-top Converse, her current summer shoe of choice when it becomes far too hot for her to wear boots. Nick watches her intently, knowing that it’s perhaps too intently, but sometimes he has to stop and marvel at how much she’s changed while still remaining true to the Cassie who handed him that lotus flower five years ago.

Her hair isn’t in long, messy waves anymore. She keeps it just at her shoulders and straight most of the time. Though she still plays around with the color of it, it’s a little more purposeful than the random streaks of color she had as a kid. These days it’s a very light blonde, with one deep purple streak near the front. 

She literally kicks off her shoes and then lays back on the bed with a sigh. “We should go out tonight.”

“Cassie.”

“Blah, blah, I know, _rules_. Maybe we need to re-think those rules.”

She complains about the rules, but she’s the one who came up with half of them, including the one about them laying low the first two days they’re in a new place.

Cassie rolls over so that she’s lying on her side facing him. She stretches a bit, revealing a strip of pale flesh between her t-shirt and the top of her skirt. Nick’s eyes dart from that strip of skin but end up in an even worse place, her legs, which are deceptively long and shapely for someone of her height.

He suddenly jumps up from the bed and declares, “I’m going for ice. And snacks, for later. The usuals?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Nick grabs the ice bucket off the dresser on the way out and heads directly outside towards the vending area near the office. He curses himself silently, because he doesn’t even remember acting like this when he was a stupid teenage virgin, all riled up over a couple inches of flesh.

Things have become worse and worse over the past few months when he thinks of her that way. If the past few minutes are any indication, he’ll be heading into the bathroom to take things into his own hand just so he can have some relief.

Nick fills the ice bucket and grabs snacks and sodas from the machines to take back with him. On the walk back to the room, he tries to think of ten different ways he can shake this feeling off, but comes up with nothing aside from directly confronting it. The only upside to that idea is that Cassie is the one person he knows that would appreciate the direct approach instead of all the circling around the issue he’s been doing.

When he returns, she’s opening the windows having completely given up on the useless contraption they claim is an air conditioner. Worse for him, she’s changed out of her clothes into a dangerously small pair of blue shorts she often wears to bed and a white tank top with no bra. Nick trips over his own feet as he steps through the door, but manages to right himself as Cassie gives him a curious look.

“When did you become so clumsy?”

“Must be the heat.”

She nods in agreement and he can see her skin glistening from the humidity already. Cassie closes the curtain, then sits on the bed while Nick puts everything on the dresser in front of her.

“Maybe we should try Antarctica sometime. No one from Division would find us there, because it’s too fucking cold for anyone but the penguins.”

Nick quickly counters with, “They’d just train the penguins to hunt us down.”

Cassie laughs as Nick sits on the other bed and pulls off his shoes. He starts to remove his t-shirt for some relief from the heat, then suddenly stops, an action that does not go unnoticed by Cassie. She gives him a raised eyebrow, which he does not react to, so she shrugs it off. Cassie scoots back on the bed and sits with her legs criss-crossed, exposing more pale white inner thigh than Nick needs to see at this particular moment.

“You’re being weird.”

“What?”

“I’m supposed to be the weird one and you’re infringing on my territory. What’s up with you?”

Nick tries to shrug it off like it’s no big deal. “I’m fine. I just have things on my mind.”

She puts her hands on her knees and leans in to stare at him, like she thinks she can break into his brain with only the power of her gaze. “Like what?”

“Like nothing. And stop staring at me like your power is mind reading instead of seeing the future.”

She sits up straighter and sighs, “Sometimes I wish it was.”

Nick feels so completely uncomfortable in his skin and though it’s not the first time he’s felt that way since he started thinking about Cassie like this, it’s still an alien feeling to him. The words are on the tip of his tongue, though he doesn’t even know what words he would use to start this conversation. 

Instead, he says, “You know me better than anyone. What do _you_ think is on my mind?”

At first, she rolls her eyes and he instantly regrets this veiled attempt at playing games even though his brain is clearly not in control of anything right now. Once the eye rolling is over, she grins at him and narrows her eyes like she’s thinking about it.

Her grin gets a bit wider and he starts to worry that maybe she _does_ know what he’s really thinking about. Finally, she says, “You’re wondering if we would have ever met without, you know, all of this.”

He wasn’t, but he has wondered it before. “I don’t think we would have.”

Her eyes widen and her eyebrows go up, “Wait, I wasn’t right was I? Tulsa didn’t bring out some latent mind-reading power I didn’t know I had, did it?”

“No, you’re not right. But it’s a good question, isn’t it? And no, I don’t think I would have ever met you.”

“I think you’re wrong.”

Nick looks at her in disbelief as she continues, “I’m not saying I believe in destiny or fate or whatever. But I have to believe in _something_ or I’ll go crazy. And I - I believe in you. Ninety-nine percent of things about being what we are suck, but there’s one percent that doesn’t. That one percent is us.”

“You sure about that math?”

“May I remind you that I did not attend high school? Now, can you not be sarcastic while I’m trying to be sappy here?”

“That’s rich coming from _you_.”

She smiles at him and he’s never loved anything more than her smile in this exact moment. “Anyway, you’re the only good thing I’ve ever had in my life and I have to believe that in any universe, powers or not, you still would be.”

Nick smiles back at her and the air in the room suddenly feels heavier. It’s rare that either one of them is rendered speechless, but Nick doesn’t quite know how to respond to it, so he just watches her while she slides off the bed and stands up just inches from him. He spies that spot on her hip, the thin white scar that was the result of her getting grazed with some glass during a fight with Division agents. They both have their scars, but scars are just proof that they’re still alive and still fighting.

Cassie walks towards the dresser and starts rifling through the snacks Nick brought in. “By the way, this TV has about four channels and none of them are worthwhile, so we’ll have to find something else to occupy our time. Wait - no Oreos?”

Her ability to change the subject in the same breath is even greater than her actual psychic abilities. 

“Sorry, they were out.”

Cassie sighs loudly and turns around to face him again. “That’s it. I’m calling it. Tulsa is officially the worst place we have ever been.”

“Worse than Utica?”

Nick had almost died in Utica and just the mention of it sometimes turns Cassie a shade of white even paler than her normal color. “Okay, not worse than Utica then. So far.”

She walks back towards him and opens the drawer in the nightstand between the beds. It was a weird habit of hers to always check for the Bible in the drawer. She wasn’t religious or even spiritual, it was just a comforting thing to know that some things in life stayed consistent.

When she shuts the drawer, she stands up straight and says, “This one had a gold cover. Seems awfully extravagant for a dump like this.”

“It’s really not that bad.”

Cassie rolls her eyes and stretches a bit, exposing her stomach to him and Nick swallows hard, which Cassie definitely notices. Suddenly, she sits on his lap, one arm around his neck, her face dangerously close to his.

Nick moves his hands so that they’re gripping the bedspread and definitely _not_ touching her as he reacts, “What are you doing?”

She touches her forehead to his temple, her lips right near his ear as she says, “Aren’t you tired? I’m so tired.”

“Cass -“

“I notice _everything_. I don’t need visions to tell me what’s obvious.” She kisses him just below the earlobe and he struggles not to start touching her right then. One more kiss a little lower on his jawline and she says, “It’s okay. I want it too.”

“But -“

He has at least ten ways to ask if she’s sure, but he doesn’t get to make any of them, because Cassie turns his face towards her, looks directly into his eyes and says, “Please.”

It’s not even a begging type of “please”, it’s more like, “Please, all your arguments mean nothing and you know it”. 

“Are you -“

She silences him with a kiss, one so forceful Nick has to pick up his hands to hold on to her waist. His touch is enough to make her deepen the kiss, and even though his brain has told him a million times _not_ to kiss her, he doesn’t hold back returning it. She isn’t too quick with her tongue, and when she finishes, she drags her teeth across his lower lip in exactly the right way. He’s been halfway to an erection since they arrived at the motel, but that little trick takes him all the way there.

Cassie starts grinning and puts both of her arms around his neck. “Come on, Nick, I can’t make _all_ the moves here.”

The hand at her waist brushes his favorite spot, that scar, and then moves up to her chest, cupping her left breast which causes Cassie’s breath to hitch in her throat. Cassie often complains about her skinny legs, or her lack of curves, but Nick never hears her complain about her breasts. They have always looked perfect to him, but now he truly knows they are. They are the perfect size to fill his hand as he cups one then brush his thumb over her nipple and repeats the same motions on the other one. 

Cassie’s head tips back giving Nick the perfect opportunity to attack her neck with kisses and the tiniest of nibbles. He runs his tongue lightly up her neck and captures her earlobe between his lips, sucking at it slightly while he rubs one nipple before switching to the other.

Cassie uses her hand to lift his head up so she can kiss him again, a little more frantically than before, her tongue taking a deep dive into his open mouth. She leans her body into his touch and slides a bit on his lap to spread her legs slightly. Nick doesn’t know if that is a hint or just an involuntary motion, but he takes advantage of it by moving the hand that had been on her breast to her knee.

He uses just the tips of his fingers to lightly brush her inner thigh, trailing upwards until his hand is on the outside of her shorts, which are already damp. He mumbles into her mouth, “Oh my God”, which makes Cassie break off the kiss just long enough to laugh.

Nick slides his hand beneath the waistband of her shorts, brushing over her neatly trimmed mound and then slipping his fingers into her wet, warm folds. He’s in such disbelief that this is actually happening, he pauses for a moment, until Cassie’s body arches to press herself against him. 

She breaks the kiss again to pull her tank top off and Nick bends his head to capture her nipple in his mouth. He scrapes his teeth over the hardened bud just as his fingers find her clit, and Cassie lets out a noise somewhere between a squeal and a gasp. Her reaction makes him want to forego the foreplay and fuck her right then and there, but he’s waited long enough for this and wants to savor it too.

His thumb rubs at her clit while his middle finger slips into her with ease. It’s so beautifully tight and hot and he feels like he could do just this forever and be satisfied, but Cassie is clawing at his t-shirt and growling into his ear, “Unfair, unfair, unfair.”

He figures out that she means the amount of clothes he has on, versus how nearly naked she is and he reluctantly takes his hand from her shorts, taking a moment to kiss both of her tits and suck at her nipples before he slides her from his lap on to the bed. He yanks off his t-shirt quickly and tosses it aside, taking a moment to look at Cassie who is flushed red and looking at him like he’s her favorite flavor of ice cream. 

Nick stands up and to his surprise, Cassie stands up with him, her hands immediately going to his abs first and then sliding up to his chest, palms brushing over his nipples as she stands on her toes to kiss his shoulders and then his mouth. Her hands move down to the button of his jeans, and quickly work to pull them down over his hips. Her fingers are light and graceful as they brush over his length and Nick makes a noise that is deep and full of longing.

Cassie steps back to remove her shorts, standing there completely exposed to him and Nick drinks it all in. It’s not surprising at all how beautiful she is, but it still makes him catch his breath as she stands there so exposed and so trusting in what they have together.

His jeans and boxers quickly join her clothes on the floor, and Cassie’s eyes immediately dart to his cock which makes him laugh a short, sharp laugh. He tilts his head down and grins at her, not embarrassed, but completely amused.

“What? I’ve been curious for a _long_ time.”

She had accidentally walked in on him while he was undressed a few years before that, but that had been in a more relaxed state, not at full attention like he was now.

Nick puts his hands at her hips and pulls her toward him, then runs his hands down over her bare ass and back up to the small of her back, pulling her in for a quick kiss. He walks her to the other bed and helps her lay down before burying his face into her neck. His hands move everywhere, from her breasts and down her stomach, to her hips and then down to her thighs. He moves his hands between her legs and urges her to spread them apart as he kneels on the floor beside the bed. 

Nick plants a kiss at the bend of her right knee and lays a trail of kisses up the inside of her thigh, while his other hand goes to her hip to pull her closer to the edge of the bed. He plants a kiss just above her mound and Cassie shudders in anticipation of what he is about to do.

He teases her slowly at first, his tongue exploring every fold lovingly and just this little taste of her is even better than he had imagined it. He had thought about everything he wanted to do to her more times than he cared to admit, and even thought about the kind of Mover tricks he could do. He swears to himself that there won’t be any tricks for their first time, as he wants this to be just him and her and no powers.

Nick runs his tongue up and down her slit, then slides the tip of it inside her, causing Cassie to buck her hips. He moves his head up and lays his tongue flat against her clit, looking up to see Cassie tweaking her nipples with her eyes closed.It is pure ecstasy and it is also the sexiest thing he has ever seen.

He begins working her clit with his mouth, alternating between licking it and sucking at it. Two fingers slide into her and Cassie practically growls her approval, which makes Nick work even harder. She doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, and puts her hand on his head to encourage him.

Nick adds a third finger, then scrapes her clit with his teeth and suddenly Cassie shudders beneath him and lets out a series of unintelligible noises. Nick keeps sucking at her clit until she has to swat him away because it’s too sensitive. He kisses the inside of her thighs again and then crawls on to the bed to lie next to her, his fingers making a trail up her stomach to cup one perfect breast while Cassie lies on her back, staring at the ceiling and trying to catch her breath.

He lays on his side next to her and kisses her shoulder, then rests his head so that his lips touch the curve of her neck. Cassie sighs and he can just see the smile that’s beginning to curve her mouth. “Better than -"

She pauses and he lifts his head, eyebrows raised in confusion. “Better than what?”

Cassie closes her eyes for a moment, her smile turning into a wicked grin as she opens them again. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Tell me now.”

She answers him with a kiss, rolling onto her side and taking her turn to touch him everywhere she can reach, before her hand finally settles on his cock. She delicately grazes it at first, which is still enough to cause Nick to moan into her mouth. Her hand wraps around his length and her skin feels like satin as she moves her hand up and down. Cassie tightens her grip after a bit and Nick has to break off the kiss to let out a sound that even _he’s_ never heard himself make before.

Cassie gradually increases the speed of her strokes, and though he knows she’s no virgin, he’s a little surprised at how good she is. He can tell he’s getting too close so he reaches for her hand to pull it away and says softly, “Stop, stop, stop.”

Nick thinks he’s about to take control, but Cassie surprises him again by pushing him onto his back, then rolling over so that she’s on top of him, quickly pulling herself up to straddle him. He can barely think clearly looking at her like that, but suddenly he says, “Wait!"

Cassie pauses and looks at him, one eyebrow quirked up as his hand goes up and suddenly the condom he keeps in his wallet is in it. His abilities have come a long way since they first met all those years ago. 

“Holy shit,” she says breathlessly.

“I have even better tricks than that."

She watches as he slides the condom on and laughs, “I bet you do.” 

Cassie leans over to kiss him and then sits back up, using her hand to guide him to her entrance. Slowly, she lets him inside, a bit at a time until he’s filling her up. Nick has to remind himself to breathe, because watching her move on top of him and the feeling of her enveloping him is almost too much to bear.

She has a beautiful rhythm to her and though she’s sometimes clumsy in real life, she looks graceful as she moves herself on top of him. Nick’s hands go to her hips and she digs in harder, then leans over, bracing herself on the bed with her hand. Her hair falls over her face, a flash of blonde and deep purple, and her eyes are closed while she makes the sweetest whimpering noises each time she moves back down. 

Nick sits up just far enough to brush her hair behind her ear and kiss her, breaking it off to whisper, “Holy fuck.”

She’s so focused she doesn’t react to his words, but instead adjusts to get him even deeper. Nick starts lifting his hips to meet her and they find their rhythm with each other quickly, so his hands go to her breasts, massaging each one and rolling his thumbs over her nipples as she leans into his touch.

Cassie starts to clench around his cock and her whimpers turn into full on yelps. Her body starts shuddering and her weight becomes heavier in his hands as she gives in to her climax. She starts muttering his name along with a few Oh My God’s and he hasn’t seen her this uncontrolled ever. It’s so beautifully vulnerable and it’s an image he will lock into his mind forever. 

She keeps moving on top of him even though she’s lost in her own pleasure, so Nick suddenly wraps his arms around her and flips her on to her back, pulling her legs up so they’re wrapped around his waist tightly. Cassie lifts her hips into him and he starts driving into her center. She feels so gloriously hot that Nick wants to push harder but he’s afraid to hurt her.

Cassie must sense him restraining himself because she puts her hands on his face, forcing him to look at her, as she says, “Don’t hold back.”

That alone almost makes him come, but instead he captures her lower lip between his teeth and rocks into her as hard as he can. He kisses her hard on the lips, then her neck and her collarbone as he edges right up to the cliff and suddenly drops over it, his entire body pulsing with heat as he continues thrusting until it finally subsides.

He collapses on to her with a sigh and a brief worry that he’s too heavy for her, but it doesn’t seem to bother Cassie as she puts her hands on his back and lovingly grazes his skin with her fingertips. 

Nick rests his head beside hers, his chin on her shoulder and he thinks everything is just perfect. It doesn’t matter that they’re always on the run from people who want to kill them or capture them. It doesn’t matter that they’re in a crappy hotel in Tulsa. It doesn't matter that everyone they’ve ever loved has been lost or betrayed them. All that matters is they have each other, and together like this, for just a moment, they can forget about all the horrible in the world.

After a few minutes, Cassie sighs and says, “I don’t ever want to leave.”

“Tulsa?”

“Tulsa. This hotel. This bed. This exact moment.”

Nick moves so that he’s lying beside her, but immediately pulls her back into his arms. “So I shouldn’t go find out if we can get a room with an air conditioner that works?”

“I don’t even care about that anymore. Let me melt, at least I’ll die happy.”

He laughs and brushes a slightly sweaty piece of hair off of her face. “Be honest with me -“

“Uh oh.”

“When did you know?”

For just a second, she looks like she’s about to play it coy, like she doesn’t know what he’s asking, but finally she says, “A _really_ long time.”

“How long?”

Cassie tilts her head down like she’s embarrassed, and Cassie is _never_ embarrassed. “Maybe four or five months after we met?”

Now _he_ feels embarrassed. “Seriously?”

She burrows her head into his chest and though her voice is muffled, he can still hear her say, “It was terrible.”

“Rude.”

Cassie laughs and she looks up at him again. “I don’t mean it like that. It’s just - of _course_ I had a crush on you, since the day I met you pretty much. But, it was supposed to be this harmless crush, a kid thing. It was supposed to go away, but before it had a chance to, I saw, well, _this_.”

“Your deja vu earlier?”

“Yep.”

“And when you said this was better than -“

“Mmm-hmm.”

He knows she expects him to say something snarky right about now, but instead he kisses her forehead and says, “I can’t imagine the things you see and have to live with in your head.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not all bad. As awkward as this wait has been, at least this was a good thing to look forward to and it did give me plenty of fuel for -“

She breaks into a grin and he laughs before quickly kissing her lips. “Well, I’m glad the real thing didn’t disappoint.”

“Not at all.”

Nick pulls her closer and thinks about their conversation from earlier. Knowing she had seen this years ago, maybe he would have to change his mind on this whole fate thing.

 

***

 

They have sex again one more time later that night, and then there’s a weirdly erotic cold shower when Cassie starts complaining about the heat again. It’s not as terrible as it could be, but it becomes the uncomfortable kind of sticky in the middle of the night, even with all of the windows open.

The next morning when they go to the office to see if they can switch to a room that they won’t die of heatstroke in, Cassie is so giddy from the night before, she’s practically bouncing around on her toes. Nick has to stop himself from grinning, because he’s just as happy as she is, but keeping it all on the inside.

The clerk gives them a key to a recently vacated room and as she does, she says, “I hope you don’t mind me saying, you two are the cutest couple I’ve seen around here in some time.”

Cassie smiles so wide as she looks at him he’s afraid her face is going to break. “We really are, aren’t we?”

He laughs softly and nods, “Yes, we’re adorable.”

Nick thanks the clerk and takes the key from her, and as they go to walk away, Cassie plants a hand squarely on his ass. When they’re out of the clerk’s earshot, she says, “Now you can’t get mad at me when I do that.”

“I’m sure you’ll still find ways to drive me crazy.”

Cassie grabs the room key out of his hand, then turns around to walk backwards as she faces him. She grins at him and replies, “You can bet on it.”


End file.
